The records of Cambridge Homes were given to the Schlesinger Library by the Board
of Directors of Cambridge Homes between August 1993 and March 2013, and by Eva Moseley in October 2004 and February 2005.

Access. Most of the collection is open for research. All researchers must sign a special
permission form agreeing not to use residents' names or initials until 20 years after
the resident's death. Personnel records are closed for 50 years from date of creation.
Board of Directors records, and any records containing personal, financial, or health
information about residents, are closed for 30 years from the date of creation. An
appointment is necessary to use any audiovisual material.

Copyright. Copyright in the records created by Cambridge Homes is retained by Cambridge
Homes as long as it exists. Should the corporation dissolve, copyright in these records
will revert to the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library.
Copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors'
heirs or assigns.

Copyright. Copyright in the oral histories of Ruth Anderson, Ethel Caragianes, Erika
Chadbourn, Elizabeth Gates, Mary Gates, Jeanne Goldberg, Frank Honey, Anna Lazerson,
and Lee Smith, is held by the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger
Library.

Copyright. Copyright in the oral history created by William Anthony is held by his
daughter Lisa Smith of Haverhill, Massachusetts, for her lifetime, after which time
copyright will revert to the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger
Library.

Copyright. Copyright in the oral history created by James Gilligan is held by his
daughter Sheila Gilligan of Somerville, Massachusetts, for her lifetime, after which
time copyright will revert to the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the
Schlesinger Library.

Copyright. Copyright in the oral history created by Max Hall is held by his daughter
Judith Allen Hall of Newton, Massachusetts, for her lifetime, after which time copyright
will revert to the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library.

Copying. Records may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.

The Cambridge Homes for Aged People was incorporated on June 10, 1887, in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, to provide housing and other assistance to "respectable aged and indigent
men and women." The initial intent was to raise enough money to fund a Home for Aged
Women, a Home for Aged Men, and a Home for Aged Couples. In 1891, after four years
of fund-raising, a Home for Aged Women opened at 157 Hancock Street. Continued fund-raising
for three separate homes proved difficult; the current building at 360 Mt. Auburn
Street, which opened in 1899, was meant to house women and men as well as couples.
At its opening the Cambridge Homes for Aged People had 34 single rooms and seven for
couples. Nine residents moved in to the building in 1899; forty-five were in residence
by 1912. The majority of residents, especially during the first fifty years, have
been women.

The first resident moved in November 3, 1891; all residents were assigned consecutive
numbers when they arrived. This practice continued until the 1980s. Residents must
be over sixty-five, and Cambridge residents receive preference. During the early years
of the Homes, residents were required to turn over their existing financial property
to the organization. Over time, this requirement changed, as national policies like
Social Security meant that retired people had more access to monthly income. Cambridge
Homes began to accept residents who could pay a monthly fee in 1985.

In 1986, the name was officially changed to Cambridge Homes. Cambridge Homes is overseen
by a Board of Directors, a group whose size has ranged from nine to 30. Several residents
have served as Directors; other residents served on the Board's House Committee, which
oversees social aspects of life in the Homes.

In May 1996 the Cambridge Homes Board of Directors decided to convert Cambridge Homes
into an assisted living facility. Renovation of the entire building followed; all
resident rooms were rebuilt in a suite-like fashion with a kitchenette. Shared kitchen
and dining room facilities continued to exist. Instead of directly employing nursing
staff, Cambridge Homes contracted with nearby nursing facilities to provide care.
However, this changed the makeup of the residents - those requiring more nursing care
would have to move elsewhere. During the renovation Cambridge Homes residents were
found alternate housing, and many staff were let go. When the Cambridge Homes building
reopened in 1997, management of the facility was contracted to Senior Living Residences,
which continues to manage the facility.

The records of Cambridge Homes, a nonprofit home for the elderly, include by-laws,
histories, and brochures; Board of Directors files (meeting minutes, notes, committee
reports and minutes, lists of board members); resident applications; volumes listing
resident wills, financial information, wishes about death and burial; and transcripts
and audiotapes from an oral history project with residents. The collection contains
extensive documentation of the early years of the Homes - annual reports, treasurer's
reports, board minutes, and careful documentation of residents. Files on residents
are most complete before the 1940s, and many contain birth certificates, United States
citizenship or naturalization documents, and cemetery deeds for residents. There is
little documentation of any kind between the 1940s and the 1970s. Board of Directors
files from the 1980s through the mid 1990s are quite complete, and reflect the Board's
struggles in those years with financial realities, an aging building, and the increased
professionalization of elder care. Original titles written on folders or imprinted
on volumes appear in quotations in the inventory; most folder titles were created
by the archivist.

Series I, HISTORY AND ORGANIZATION, 1892-1996 (#1.1-3.3), includes by-laws, annual
reports, brochures, histories, publicity material, and policies of the Cambridge Homes.
Two bound volumes contain collected early records of the Homes (#1.2v, 2.16v). This
series includes files of resident and Board member Lucy W. Stearns, most related to
histories of the Homes that she researched and wrote. A number of brochures (#2.2),
many undated, show the ways the marketing of Cambridge Homes changed over time. Files
related specifically to the administration of the Homes are included here; a number
of Board of Directors files in Series II also address administration issues of the
homes.

Series II, BOARD OF DIRECTORS, 1909-1998 (inclusive), 1982-1996 (bulk) (#3.4-12.3),
contains minutes, correspondence, reports, memos, and notes from Board of Directors
and committee meetings. The Admissions Committee researches, interviews and recommends
candidates for admission as Cambridge Homes residents. The House Committee is responsible
for authorizing all expenditures for supplies and services in the Homes; it also included
residents of the Homes as members. In general this series documents a nonprofit board
(primarily composed of nonexperts) grappling with the changing nature of elder care
over the late 20th century: increased state regulation, centralization and professionalization
of health care, longer lives of residents, changing nature of funds available even
to the poorest residents, etc. The Cambridge Homes board undertook studies to determine
how to proceed with issues surrounding the cost of on-site nursing care, renovation
of an older facility, and planning for an uncertain future. The Strategic Planning
Committee, active in the 1990s, hired a consultant to recommend a way forward for
the Homes; this resulted in the Board's decision to hire a management company and
renovate to become an assisted living facility.

Files comprising this series are a mixture of those kept by Homes administrators and
those kept by Homes Board members, including Presidents Frank Duehay and Catherine
Gerrish. When files belonging to Board Members were titled or clearly marked as relating
to a specific committee or topic, the files have been arranged with other files on
the work of that committee, with original owner identified. A number of Board members'
files were more general, and these are arranged by member name. Much of the material
was unfoldered, and these materials were organized by Committee or topic. Folders
with meeting minutes also may include agendas and committee reports to the board.
Corporation meeting files may also include Board committee reports, as well as that
of the Cambridge Homes Administrator, to the corporation. Series is arranged alphabetically.

Series III, RESIDENTS, 1854-1994 (inclusive), 1920-1950 (bulk) (#12.4-20.5, FD.1-FD.2,
F+D.1), contains resident application files; Cambridge Homes's records about resident
next of kin and wishes for death and burial; lists of residents and their financial
information, etc. Beginning in 1891, residents were given numbers in order of application.
Resident number 1, Jane Augusta Field, applied for residency in October 1891 and took
up residence that November. Most records in this series begin with the earliest residents
and continue in chronological order through the 1960s. Residents, especially in the
first three decades of the Homes, were a mix of immigrant and American-born, however
most were white Protestants. Bound registers (#19.5-19.6v) list names of residents,
their town of residence, town and date of birth, parents' names and birthplaces, living
close relatives, religion, occupation, years lived in Cambridge, and date of death
and place of burial. Application files of deceased residents include their original
applications, and in many cases were also used as catch-all files for the residents:
many include directions upon death, cemetery deeds, correspondence residents received
from family members or other community members, naturalization and citizenship records,
or photographs. Cemetery deeds are often to Mount Auburn Cemetery and Cambridge Cemetery,
as well as a few other local cemeteries. Applications contain detailed personal information,
such as family background, occupation of parents, spouse if any, personal property,
former places of residence, etc. Two bound "Legacy Books" (#18.1v, 18.7v), which list
residents in order of death, had many pieces of paper stuck in between pages; these
items have been removed and stored separately (#18.3-18.6, 19.1-19.2) A number of
documents (#20.3) belonged to resident Lucy Stearns, who also served on the Cambridge
Homes Board of Directors. A folder of song books that belonged to residents includes
several printed by labor unions. The series is arranged alphabetically.

Series IV, CAMBRIDGE HOMES ORAL HISTORY PROJECT, 1999-2004 (#20.6-21.5, T-295.1-T-295.34),
contains audiocassettes and transcripts for oral histories taken of 14 Cambridge Homes
residents. The Cambridge Homes Oral History project was launched in 1999, when, soon
after retiring as curator of manuscripts at the Schlesinger Library, Eva Moseley was
invited to serve as an incorporator of Cambridge Homes, and fellow Incorporator Olive
("Polly") Malcolm suggested that Moseley begin an oral history project. Together they
assembled a small group of additional volunteer interviewers (Carol Bain, Harriet
Belin, and Alexandra Leake) and arranged for training by Ruth Hill, Oral History Coordinator
at the Schlesinger Library. The interviews were conducted with residents of the Homes
beginning in late 1999. Tapes were transcribed by Amy Zug and each transcript was
edited by the interviewer and by the interviewee and/or, in some cases, a family member.
Residents were asked a series of questions about their childhood, their professional
and adult lives, their family members, and other topics found interesting by the interviewer.
All interview subjects signed release forms describing their wishes about access,
copyright, etc. Copies of these legal agreements are included with each transcript.
Each interview resulted in an edited oral history transcript save two, those of Lydia
King and Sally Moulton: only audiotapes of these oral histories are available. All
tapes in this series are audiocassettes. The series is arranged alphabetically by
interviewee.

Series V, PHOTOGRAPHS, 1876-1983 (PD.1-PD.3), contains photographs of the Cambridge
Homes building and its residents, primarily taken for publicity purposes. Also included
are photographs belonging to resident John Lowell. These photographs, most unidentified,
include a woman seated on donkey in Egypt in 1908; a tintype; and several views of
a woman in her bedroom.

Most of the photographs in this collection are or will be digitized and available
online.

Scope and Contents: Series I, HISTORY AND ORGANIZATION, 1892-1996 (#1.1-3.3), includes by-laws, annual
reports, brochures, histories, publicity material, and policies of the Cambridge Homes.
Two bound volumes contain collected early records of the Homes (#1.2v, 2.16v). This
series includes files of resident and Board member Lucy W. Stearns, most related to
histories of the Homes that she researched and wrote. A number of brochures (#2.2),
many undated, show the ways the marketing of Cambridge Homes changed over time. Files
related specifically to the administration of the Homes are included here; a number
of Board of Directors files in Series II also address administration issues of the
homes.

1.1. Administrator's files, 1986-1995.

Conditions Governing Access: CLOSED UNTIL JANUARY 1, 2026.

1.2v. Annual reports, 1892-1956: includes Certificate of Incorporation and by-laws; bound
in one volume

Scope and Contents: Series II, BOARD OF DIRECTORS, 1909-1998 (inclusive), 1982-1996 (bulk) (#3.4-12.3),
contains minutes, correspondence, reports, memos, and notes from Board of Directors
and committee meetings. The Admissions Committee researches, interviews and recommends
candidates for admission as Cambridge Homes residents. The House Committee is responsible
for authorizing all expenditures for supplies and services in the Homes; it also included
residents of the Homes as members. In general this series documents a nonprofit board
(primarily composed of nonexperts) grappling with the changing nature of elder care
over the late 20th century: increased state regulation, centralization and professionalization
of health care, longer lives of residents, changing nature of funds available even
to the poorest residents, etc. The Cambridge Homes board undertook studies to determine
how to proceed with issues surrounding the cost of on-site nursing care, renovation
of an older facility, and planning for an uncertain future. The Strategic Planning
Committee, active in the 1990s, hired a consultant to recommend a way forward for
the Homes; this resulted in the Board's decision to hire a management company and
renovate to become an assisted living facility.

Files comprising this series are a mixture of those kept by Homes administrators and
those kept by Homes Board members, including Presidents Frank Duehay and Catherine
Gerrish. When files belonging to Board Members were titled or clearly marked as relating
to a specific committee or topic, the files have been arranged with other files on
the work of that committee, with original owner identified. A number of Board members'
files were more general, and these are arranged by member name. Much of the material
was unfoldered, and these materials were organized by Committee or topic. Folders
with meeting minutes also may include agendas and committee reports to the board.
Corporation meeting files may also include Board committee reports, as well as that
of the Cambridge Homes Administrator, to the corporation. Series is arranged alphabetically.

Scope and Contents: Series III, RESIDENTS, 1854-1994 (inclusive), 1920-1950 (bulk) (#12.4-20.5, FD.1-FD.2,
F+D.1), contains resident application files; Cambridge Homes's records about resident
next of kin and wishes for death and burial; lists of residents and their financial
information, etc. Beginning in 1891, residents were given numbers in order of application.
Resident number 1, Jane Augusta Field, applied for residency in October 1891 and took
up residence that November. Most records in this series begin with the earliest residents
and continue in chronological order through the 1960s. Residents, especially in the
first three decades of the Homes, were a mix of immigrant and American-born, however
most were white Protestants. Bound registers (#19.5-19.6v) list names of residents,
their town of residence, town and date of birth, parents' names and birthplaces, living
close relatives, religion, occupation, years lived in Cambridge, and date of death
and place of burial. Application files of deceased residents include their original
applications, and in many cases were also used as catch-all files for the residents:
many include directions upon death, cemetery deeds, correspondence residents received
from family members or other community members, naturalization and citizenship records,
or photographs. Cemetery deeds are often to Mount Auburn Cemetery and Cambridge Cemetery,
as well as a few other local cemeteries. Applications contain detailed personal information,
such as family background, occupation of parents, spouse if any, personal property,
former places of residence, etc. Two bound "Legacy Books" (#18.1v, 18.7v), which list
residents in order of death, had many pieces of paper stuck in between pages; these
items have been removed and stored separately (#18.3-18.6, 19.1-19.2) A number of
documents (#20.3) belonged to resident Lucy Stearns, who also served on the Cambridge
Homes Board of Directors. A folder of song books that belonged to residents includes
several printed by labor unions. The series is arranged alphabetically.

20.2. Residents' cemetery deeds, correspondence (unable to connect to a specific resident),
1874-1950. See also #FD.2 for Cambridge Cemetery deed.

20.3. Residents' Council minutes, 1980-1984: Lucy W. Stearns' file

20.4. Song books, 1947, 1950, n.d.: "Let's Sing!" from the International Ladies' Garment
Workers Union; "Sing a Labor Song" by Gerard Marks and Milton Pascal; "Songs of the
American Worker" by the Auvilles; "Union Songs" from the International Ladies' Garment
Workers Union Local No. 122, Atlanta, Georgia; "Sing Amalgamated" from the Amalgamated
Clothing Workers of America; "Song Book" from the New York Women's Trade Union League;
"Amalgamated Song Book" from the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America; "Songs for
Union Hall and Picket Line," from the Textile Workers Union of America

Scope and Contents: Series IV, CAMBRIDGE HOMES ORAL HISTORY PROJECT, 1999-2004 (#20.6-21.5, T-295.1-T-295.34),
contains audiocassettes and transcripts for oral histories taken of 14 Cambridge Homes
residents. The Cambridge Homes Oral History project was launched in 1999, when, soon
after retiring as curator of manuscripts at the Schlesinger Library, Eva Moseley was
invited to serve as an incorporator of Cambridge Homes, and fellow Incorporator Olive
("Polly") Malcolm suggested that Moseley begin an oral history project. Together they
assembled a small group of additional volunteer interviewers (Carol Bain, Harriet
Belin, and Alexandra Leake) and arranged for training by Ruth Hill, Oral History Coordinator
at the Schlesinger Library. The interviews were conducted with residents of the Homes
beginning in late 1999. Tapes were transcribed by Amy Zug and each transcript was
edited by the interviewer and by the interviewee and/or, in some cases, a family member.
Residents were asked a series of questions about their childhood, their professional
and adult lives, their family members, and other topics found interesting by the interviewer.
All interview subjects signed release forms describing their wishes about access,
copyright, etc. Copies of these legal agreements are included with each transcript.
Each interview resulted in an edited oral history transcript save two, those of Lydia
King and Sally Moulton: only audiotapes of these oral histories are available. All
tapes in this series are audiocassettes. The series is arranged alphabetically by
interviewee.

Scope and Contents: Describes childhood and schooling in Germany, emigration to United States in 1934,
work as a librarian, being curator of manuscripts at Harvard Law School library, Saturday
Morning Club.

Conditions Governing Use: DO NOT PHOTOCOPY/SCAN UNTIL JANUARY 1, 2025.

Scope and Contents: Describes childhood in Baltimore, Maryland and Springfield, Massachusetts; work as
a nurse during World War II, specifically mentioning abortions; living and working
in African American neighborhoods and her understanding of her own complex racial
heritage.

21.5. Eva Moseley's notes and correspondence, 1999-2001

Series V. PHOTOGRAPHS, 1876-1983 (PD.1-PD.3)

Scope and Contents: Series V, PHOTOGRAPHS, 1876-1983 (PD.1-PD.3), contains photographs of the Cambridge
Homes building and its residents, primarily taken for publicity purposes. Also included
are photographs belonging to resident John Lowell. These photographs, most unidentified,
include a woman seated on donkey in Egypt in 1908; a tintype; and several views of
a woman in her bedroom.